European U17: Bronze medal for Vassilis Papageorgiou in Tirana

Vassilis Papageorgiou won the bronze medal in the U17 European Championship. The young champion celebrated great success in the top age-specific tournament held in Tirana, Albania, as he produced a thrilling performance in the Greco-Roman “small” 55kg final.

Thus, he capitalized on a great run that started from the beginning of the tournament.

The “wolf” faced the Norwegian Mario Andrey Mariut in the medal match and found himself losing 2-0. But then he needed a successful challenge to equalize and from the moment he knocked his opponent to the ground he easily reached 7-2. Until the end he was not threatened and managed to win the bronze medal.

Papageorgiou held an impressive tournament and showed that he is one of the great talents of Greek Wrestling. It is worth noting that in the only match that he did not win in the tournament, he drew 1-1.

The Greek champion started his campaign with a victory against the Hungarian Bente Olaz, and then prevailed with a wonderful technique from the Austrian Daniel Struzinski. In the quarter-finals he was unlucky, as he was tied 1-1 in a close match and was defeated by Moldovan Sharmanov.

Meanwhile, Thanasis Efthymiadis in the repechage of 65 kg overcame the obstacle of the Albanian Chord Gioni, but then lost to the Swedish Ruben Arvind Jonas Strakaved and could not reach the “small” final.

Tsinias in repechage

Thanasis Tsinias will continue his effort in the repechage of 45 kg. The Greek champion lost to Azeri Turan Dasdamirov, who went on to reach the final. Now, Tsinias will face the Georgian Dzamba Bolkvatze, while in case of victory he will fight with the Armenian Yurik Mikitarian in the “small” final.

From there, a moment of inactivity in the last second of the first part cost Arion Kolitsopoulos, who was defeated by the Turkish Salih Yusuf Yazici and was prematurely eliminated. Meanwhile, Dimitris Pappas lost to Germany’s Ole Sterning.

Premiere with four entries in U17 women’s wrestling

On Wednesday (14/6), on the third day of the competition, four Greek women will compete in the European competition. At 43 kg, Maria Luisa Ghika will face the Romanian Diana Iuminica Voiculescu in the quarterfinals, while at 57 kg, Georgia Hasambalioti will fight in the round of 16 with Maria Belyasova, who comes from Russia, but the Russians are not competing under the flag of their country.

At 65 kg, Ioanna Makrydakis will play in the qualifiers against Anastasia Komanava, who is also from Russia. Finally, at 73 kg, Theodora Raphaelia Argyriou is waiting for her opponent in the quarterfinals, which will be the pair between Alexandra Stoyanova from Bulgaria and Diana Titova who comes from Russia.